The Future of B2B Marketing: AI Replaces Humans?

This week on Funnel Frontier: Discover how AI will take over B2B, Pipedrive's green car cruises to biz success, and HubSpot's email hack.

This week:

• B2B to the Future (via Forrester) 

• Be Quiet and Pipedrive

• Don’t freestyle your sales funnel (via Capsule)

• Care to email share, space cowboy? (via monday.com)

• eXtreme email sequencing (via HubSpot)

Stat of the Week 

IT & telecom is currently the third largest CRM segment, and it’s projected to expand at a CAGR of 15.6% from 2024 to 2030.. (Grand View Research)

B2B to the Future (via Forrester) 

Hold onto your rusty DeLorean. 

A recent Forrester “What It Means” podcast dug into the issue of bridging human and technical skills in B2B marketing—TL;DR: AI is the flux capacitor. 

According to astral analysts Naomi Marr and Katy Tynan, The Future™ does not contain Biff Tannen. Instead, it’s a place where AI prompt engineering and accuracy evaluation meet empathy and stellar communication.

Some bytes:

• Marketers won’t be data drones but rather deep diplomats, mastering the art of AI while fostering human connections across galaxies.

• Demographic shifts are causing talent to blast away in the escape pods. The fix to this lies not in teleporting skills from the outer rim but rather in cultivating a culture of continuous learning and exploration.

• The most powerful force in marketing remains the human touch. Score one for the OG overlords of the earth.

Programming your AI co-pilot is one thing, but so is leading your crew with wisdom and engaging hyper-speed networking. Yes, indeed-y, navigating the asteroid belt of generative AI requires a blend of technical wizardry and soft-skill sorcery. 

The future needs marketers who can pivot with the agility of a starfighter—masters of the marketing force, ready to bridge worlds with opportunity. (There’s a CRM for that…)

Need more time stewing in the B2B juice? Forrester’s Austin B2B Summit takes place May 5th to 8th. Fun fact: it features a full genAI track. 

The Week @ CRM.org

CRM for Startups. Finding a startup-friendly CRM is like sneaking snacks into a theater—you need something discreet and effective. 

CRM Stats & Trends. Up-up-up. Stargazing the numbers in our fast-growing SaaS segment. 

Top 10 CRM for 2024. Shopping CRM = treasure hunting, but unfortunately, 100+ Xs mark the spot. Here’s a manageable 10.

Weekly Bloom

Balancing Customer Retention & Churn. Customer churn is like having aliens abduct your paying customers. It’s time to power up the retention forcefield!

Be Quiet and Pipedrive

Picture this. You're on public transit. All of a sudden, wham, a Pipedrive ad. Where does your tea go? On the floor.

That’s right, with creative cyber-folks DEPT® at the helm, the CRM vendor has launched a gutsy global campaign.

Its protagonist? A green car called “The Pipedrive” that says “I am a metaphor for CRM.” 

James Stoker, VP of Marketing Strategy, was heard to quip “We know that behind every small business, there’s a story of many twists and turns. Our new campaign dramatizes the journey and the role Pipedrive plays in helping our customers on their journey to business success.”

In this new ad-verse, Pipedrive is the ultimate satellite navigation system for small biz, guiding our hero past the detrimental debris of doubt and uncertainty. 

As the campaign launches in the UK, US, Germany, and Australia, it pinky-promises Pipedrive will beam small businesses up, Scotty.

But wait, they’ve also been doing a Comedians In Cars-esque show on YouTube with the titular green car.

And no, the car does not talk. 

Stellar Strategies: Tips & Tricks for Sales, Marketing & Service

Freestyle sales funnel? Please don’t (via Capsule)

Salesforce Tower was not built in a day. In theory, your email sales funnel could be, but it’s just not the move.

It’s like, about the journey, man.

First, you need a solid base of customer knowledge. Data is the roadmap to consult. Put bucks into the best-performing part of the funnel, test, and improve. 

Remember, it's not about spammy signals but nurturing candy-coated content that inspires childlike wonder and awe. Lead gently from curiosity to commitment. Ensure your landing pages are as welcoming as a neon motel in the dusty desert.

Fuel the ride with irresistible offers that sparkle brighter than a New Mexico night sky, making the purchase process smoother than cruise-control on Interstate 40.

Just don’t take folks for granted once they've hopped a ride. Onboard them with warmth that’ll turn them into loyal pals, in it for the long-haul on your brand’s odyssey. 

Funnel over to Capsule’s blog for more. 

Care to email share, space cowboy? (via monday.com)

In the cosmic dance of customer service, even the most astute space tangoist fears the misstep known as “The Forgotten Email.” 

You don’t want a champagne supernova of customer dissatisfaction. So why not think about a communal space station? Unlike a timeshare, this can be gotten for free.

Through the magic of platforms like sales CRM, your team can harness the power of this shared space, ensuring no message gets void-ed. It's like having a universal translator for all customer distress signals, where collaboration flows as smoothly as Tang.

With everyone steering, you can dodge duplicate responses and barrel-roll past wormholes of internal communication with ease. All while keeping the star charts of customer satisfaction shining.

Easier collab, more knowledge sharing, happier customers. Oh my. 

More shareables here. 

eXtreme email sequencing (via HubSpot)

Ah, the almighty email sequence. Not just any ol' blaster, but a series of meticulously crafted, automated messages lasered through the cosmos by the power of advanced automation.

Why bother with this high-tech communique? Because email marketing ROI can reach 3600%, according to Matthew Scott, creative director at FEED. The Agency.

In the control room, you've got your lead generation form. It's your radar for detecting lifeforms interested in your message. 

Next up, the email builder, think of it as your ship's architect, designing messages that can withstand the vacuum of space and catch the eye of intelligent life. 

And don’t forget the subject line checker; your targeting system ensuring your first contact is piquing interest.

So, strap in, prepare your sequences, and get ready to automate astronomically. Just remember, in the vast universe of email marketing, setting the coordinates right means you won't have to hit "send” manually.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

Bullhorn comes out with an AI tool for the staff industry. Bullhorn Copilot, launched at the Bullhorn Engage event in Sydney, uses GenAI that embeds in recruiters’ ATS/CRM.

Fiduciary advisor / wealthtech vendor Orion releases new estate planning tool. It’s called Orion Planning, and it integrates across all Orion tools, including Redtail CRM.  

Dialpad and T-Mobile release AI Recaps. Dialpad and Dialpad for T-Mobile business customers get new AI-enabled tools, like call and meeting summaries, that can be easily ported to CRM records.

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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